Food fans: it is fully ten minutes before we get to a cooking scene but otherwise Mildred is simmering nicely. Todd Hayne’s mini-series continues to hit all the right notes and Kate Winslet is full-on blistering as his strong minded heroine.
 

We left Mildred last week after the tragedy of daughter Ray’s death and the knowledge that she was with her lover Monte (Guy Pierce) when Ray was taken ill. In this part we find out more about who Monte Barragan actually is, as he gets introduced to problem child Veda and the tension of Mildred’s restaurant opening unfolds.

On the relationship side, Mildred is no sap but she finds herself in a bad situation. Monte is known about town as a dandy with a high falutin’ address and rafish charm. Pierce plays him as haughty and care-free, a similar kind of twit to his Edward VIII in The King’s Speech. The reality we learn is that Monte may like the high life but bankruptcy awaits. And it’s actually Mildred who is paying his way, while he sits on his fancy mansion, none too enthusiastic about selling it.

Things get pretty nasty and confrontational when Monte jokes in the bedroom that he is a paid gigolo. A joke that doesn’t sit well with Mildred who already has Veda looking down her nose at her own mother on matters of class and her station in life. Could it be that Monte enjoys Mildred for the sex but would never marry her because she works for a living? A fine irony as her travails actually pay for him to bum around like Errol Flynn, without the career.

It’s a tough one for Mildred, as it is clear she enjoys their passionate relationship. In a way this is a triumphant episode for her (and another great one for Winslet). She starts off burying her youngest daughter, one week before her restaurant opening. Her lover turns out to be a manipulative weasel and Veda? Veda is a problem (as I’ve said since week one). If we thought she couldn’t sink any lower than last week, we were wrong. She rails at her mother because their address is not posh enough for her, "Glendale is a wormhole for grubs" and goes into a rage because Mildred didn’t buy her a new piano.

It has become, perhaps, the central theme of Mildred Pierce, even though she is running her own business (Mildred’s Chicken and Waffle House), Mildred is not from the kind of moneyed-classes that prospered before the Great Depression. Both Veda and Monte won’t seem to let her forget it, like they are denying the very times they live in. Mildred is the one who gives them their daily bread, yet they almost despise her for it. Both get some payback this episode.

And did I mention scenes of frenzied chicken making? The waffle house opening night is a lovely sequence, full of little moments, tension and great acting across the cast. I particularly enjoyed Mildred’s friend from her waitress job who starts out by patronising her on her table layout then soon marches into the kitchen to help her save the day; marshalling the staff when things get hairy.
 

By the end of part three Mildred is dripping wet after braving a storm, she’s dealt with her lover, put her thermo-nuclear brat of a daughter in her place and seemingly done everything to make the show’s motto her own.

Cut the mush.